JP6480677B2 - COMMUNICATION DEVICE, ITS CONTROL METHOD, COMPUTER PROGRAM - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a communication system, a communication method, a communication device, a control method thereof, and a computer program.

  In recent years, Wi-Fi Direct standards have been formulated by Wi-Fi Alliance, which is a wireless LAN industry group (Non-Patent Document 1). In Wi-Fi Direct, as an optional function, a function (service discovery function) for advertising / searching service information supported by a host application before executing a wireless LAN connection process is defined. According to this service discovery function, it is possible to search for a service of a peripheral terminal using a probe request of a wireless LAN and advertise the service of the own terminal using a Probe Response packet before executing the connection process. By using this service discovery function, when a service to be searched is instructed by a user operation, the terminal starts searching for the service and displays a list of terminals that provide the service. Furthermore, when a partner terminal for communication is selected by a user operation, a wireless LAN connection process using Wi-Fi Direct can be performed with the partner terminal to execute a service.

  Also, in recent years, the installation of NFC (Near Field Communication) technology has begun to spread in the terminal devices described above. By simply performing an operation such as bringing the terminals closer together, a one-to-one communication path can be established by NFC, and data can be transmitted and received between the terminals. In addition, NFC Forum, which is an NFC industry group, standardizes a technique for handover from NFC to a different wireless communication method such as wireless LAN (IEEE802.11 series) or Bluetooth (registered trademark) (Non-patent Document 2). . By using this technology, the user can perform connection processing such as wireless LAN only by an operation of bringing the terminals closer to each other.

Wi-Fi Alliance homepage, Internet <http://www.wi-fi.org/discover-wi-fi/wi-fi-direct> NFC Forum homepage, Internet <http://nfc-forum.org/>

  The above-described Wi-Fi Direct service discovery function does not consider the method of advertising / searching service information using NFC, and it is necessary to select a terminal that executes a desired service by a user operation. there were.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and provides a technique for specifying a communication partner terminal capable of executing a desired service only by a simple operation such as bringing the terminals closer to each other and enabling the service to be executed. Objective.

In order to achieve the above object, a communication apparatus according to the present invention comprises the following arrangement. That is, when a service to be executed by the second wireless communication method is selected, storage means for storing service information corresponding to the service so as to be readable by the first wireless communication method from another communication device; A message indicating that a service corresponding to the service information stored in the storage means is executable, the receiving means for receiving the message transmitted by the second wireless communication method; and the first Detection means for detecting that communication by a wireless communication system has been performed, and the reception means by which a predetermined time has elapsed after the detection means has detected that communication by the first wireless communication system has been performed When the message is received by the communication device, it is connected to another communication device that is the transmission source of the message by the second wireless communication method. If the message is not received even after a predetermined time has elapsed since the detection means detects that the communication by the first wireless communication method has been performed, the second communication device and the second communication device Connecting means that does not connect by a wireless communication method.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the communication partner terminal which can perform a desired service only by simple operation, such as bringing a terminal near, can be identified, and the technique which enables execution of a service can be provided.

The figure which shows the structural example of a communication system Block diagram showing a hardware configuration example of a digital camera Block diagram showing a hardware configuration example of a tablet PC The figure which shows an example of the functional block of a digital camera The figure which shows an example of the functional block of tablet PC Flow chart showing operation flow of digital camera Flow chart showing operation flow of tablet PC The figure which shows an example of the communication sequence between a digital camera and tablet PC

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

<< Embodiment 1 >>
(Communications system)
Hereinafter, a communication device and a communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a device configuration of a communication system 100 according to the present embodiment described below. 101 and 102 are communication apparatuses according to the present embodiment, 101 is a digital camera, and 102 is a tablet PC. The tablet PC 102 can communicate with the digital camera 101 using the NFC communication 103. In the present embodiment, the tablet PC 102 is provided with an NFC reader / writer and the communication for reading and writing the NFC tag of the digital camera 101 is assumed. However, the communication may be performed from both sides. The digital camera 101 and the tablet PC 102 can communicate with each other using the wireless LAN communication 104. In this embodiment, an example in which communication is performed between a digital camera and a tablet PC will be described. However, communication devices that can constitute a communication system are not limited to these. For example, any information device such as a PC (personal computer), a smartphone, or a printer can be used as the communication device according to the present embodiment.

(Hardware configuration of digital camera)
Next, the hardware configuration of the digital camera 101 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the digital camera 101. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the digital camera 101 includes a display unit 201, an operation unit 202, a storage unit 203, a power supply unit 204, a control unit 205, a ROM 206, a RAM 207, an NFC tag unit 208, and a wireless LAN communication unit 209.

  The display unit 201 has a function of outputting visually recognizable information, and displays a UI (user interface) related to the application. The display unit 201 is configured by, for example, an LCD (liquid crystal display), an LED (light emitting diode), or the like. The operation unit 202 has a function for the user to perform various inputs and operate the communication apparatus. The operation unit 202 includes, for example, a touch panel, buttons, a keyboard, and the like. The storage unit 203 includes, for example, an HDD (hard disk drive), an SSD (solid state drive), an IC memory, and the like, and stores and manages various data such as wireless communication network information, data transmission / reception information, and image data. The power supply unit 204 is, for example, a battery, holds a power supply for operating the entire apparatus, and supplies power to each hardware.

  The control unit 205 is, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit), and controls the operation of each component of the digital camera 101. A ROM 206 is a read-only memory and stores computer programs such as control instructions and data. Various operations described later are realized by the control unit 205 executing a computer program stored in a storage device such as the ROM 206. A RAM 207 is a writable memory, and is used for work memory when executing a program, temporary storage of data, and the like.

  The NFC tag unit 208 is a communication unit that performs NFC communication 103 as a first wireless communication method. The NFC tag unit 208 has a nonvolatile memory inside, and can read / write data stored in the memory from the reader / writer via the NFC communication 103. The internal memory of the NFC tag unit 208 can read and write data based on the control of the control unit 205. It is assumed that the NFC tag unit 208 operates in a card emulation mode defined by NFC Forum.

  In the present embodiment, the NFC tag unit 208 will be described as a component of the digital camera 101, but it may be replaced with hardware similar to an NFC communication unit 308 described later. NFC communication is possible when a communication apparatus comes within a predetermined distance. The wireless LAN communication unit 209 is a communication unit that performs the wireless LAN communication 104 as the second wireless communication method. The wireless LAN communication unit 209 performs wireless communication conforming to the IEEE 802.11 series. In this embodiment, the wireless LAN communication unit 209 performs wireless communication conforming to the IEEE802.11 series. However, a wireless LAN communication unit 209 that conforms to another communication method such as Bluetooth (registered trademark) may be used.

(Hardware configuration of tablet PC)
Next, the hardware configuration of the tablet PC 102 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the tablet PC 102.

  The tablet PC 102 includes an NFC communication unit 308. The NFC communication unit 308 is a component that performs wireless communication in conformity with NFC (Near Field Communication). Further, the NFC communication unit 308 automatically establishes the NFC communication 103 when a device capable of communication within the communication range is detected. In this embodiment, the NFC communication unit 308 operates as a reader / writer (R / W), and can perform a reading process of reading data in the internal memory of the NFC tag unit 208. It is assumed that the NFC communication unit 308 operates in a reader / writer mode defined by the NFC Forum. In the reader / writer mode, data in the tag memory of another device operating in the card emulation mode is read, or data is written in the tag memory.

  Note that the NFC communication 103 performs wireless communication conforming to NFC, but is not limited thereto. For example, a communication method with a shorter communication distance or a communication method with a lower communication speed than the communication method used by the wireless LAN communication 104 can be used. For example, the NFC communication 103 may use a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) system defined by Bluetooth 4.0.

  The tablet PC 102 further includes a display unit 301, an operation unit 302, a storage unit 303, a power supply unit 304, a control unit 305, a ROM 306, a RAM 307, and a wireless LAN communication unit 309. Since these components are the same as those of the digital camera 101, description thereof is omitted here.

(Function block of communication device)
Next, functional blocks of the digital camera 101 and the tablet PC 102 will be described with reference to FIGS. In the present embodiment, the functional blocks of the digital camera 101 and the tablet PC 102 are stored as computer programs in storage devices such as the ROMs 206 and 306, respectively. The computer program is executed by the control units 205 and 305, whereby the functional blocks are implemented. The control units 205 and 305 realize each function by performing control of each hardware and calculation and processing of information according to a control program. A part or all of the functional blocks may be implemented as hardware. In this case, a part or all of the functional blocks are configured by, for example, ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit).

  FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram of the digital camera 101. The digital camera 101 (400) includes an NFC tag control unit 410, a wireless LAN communication control unit 420, a service control unit 430, and a display control unit 440. The NFC tag control unit 410 has a function of reading and writing data in the internal memory of the NFC tag unit 208. The NFC tag control unit 410 also has a function of detecting that the NFC communication 103 has been established. The wireless LAN communication control unit 420 is a processing unit that controls wireless LAN communication via the wireless LAN communication unit 209. The wireless LAN communication control unit 420 includes a station (STA) function that operates as a wireless LAN terminal and an AP function that operates as an access point (AP). In addition, the wireless LAN communication control unit 420 has a Wi-Fi Direct service discovery function. The service discovery function can perform advertisement of a service provided by its own device and search for a service provided by another device by using a packet such as Probe Request / Response. Note that service discovery may be performed using other protocols. The service control unit 430 is a processing unit that controls execution of a service provided by the own device and use of a service provided by another device. The display control unit 440 is a processing unit that controls output to the display unit 301 and input from the operation unit 302.

  In Wi-Fi Direct, a communication device that performs an operation corresponding to the AP function is a P2P group owner (hereinafter referred to as GO), and a communication device that performs an operation corresponding to the STA function is a P2P client (hereinafter referred to as CL). Called. These roles are determined by the GO Negotiation protocol and are defined in the Wi-Fi Direct specification. In Wi-Fi Direct, a network constructed by GO is also referred to as a P2P group. In the present embodiment, the network may be described as a P2P group, but both represent the same meaning.

  In the present embodiment, the GO and CL that perform Wi-Fi Direct communication and the communication device group whose role has not been determined are collectively referred to as a P2P device. A P2P device can participate in a wireless network (execute a CL function) or build a wireless network (execute a GO function). The Wi-Fi Direct protocol is automatically determined whether to operate as GO or CL. Then, it operates in one of the determined roles, and performs wireless connection and wireless communication. Further, when connecting between devices using Wi-Fi Direct, a communication parameter is provided from GO to CL, and the connection is made using the communication parameter. The communication parameters include various wireless communication parameters for performing wireless communication in accordance with the IEEE 802.11 standard. That is, the communication parameters include wireless communication parameters necessary for performing wireless LAN communication such as an SSID as a network identifier, an encryption method, an encryption key, an authentication method, a MAC address, and an authentication key. Further, an IP address for performing communication in the IP layer may be included.

  FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram of the tablet PC 102. The tablet PC 102 (500) includes an NFC communication control unit 510, a wireless LAN communication control unit 520, a service control unit 530, and a display control unit 540. The NFC communication control unit 510 is a processing unit that controls the NFC communication 103 via the NFC communication unit 308. Since the other functional blocks are the same as those of the digital camera 101, description thereof is omitted here.

(Operation procedure of digital camera)
The operations of the digital camera 101 and the tablet PC 102 having the above-described configurations will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of the digital camera 101.

  First, when the digital camera 101 detects that an instruction to perform a specific service is input from the user via the operation unit 302 (S601), the service information related to this service is written in the internal memory of the NFC tag unit 208. Update (S602). Note that communication parameters for establishing the wireless LAN communication 104 may be further stored in the internal memory of the NFC tag unit 208. The communication parameters include wireless communication parameters necessary for performing wireless LAN communication such as an SSID as a network identifier, an encryption method, an encryption key, an authentication method, an authentication key, and a MAC address. Further, an IP address for performing communication in the IP layer may be included.

  Note that as a specific operation of the digital camera 101 in S601, an image or a video photographed by the digital camera 101 held in the storage unit 203 is selected and selected in accordance with an input to the operation unit 202 by the user. An image is displayed on the display unit 201. Furthermore, the digital camera 101 accepts an execution command for a service for the selected image or moving image as a processing target in response to an input to the operation unit 202 by the user.

  Here, “service” refers to a series of communication processing executed by performing communication between apparatuses. For example, there is a PLAY service for communicating and displaying moving image data as a service that can be used by a higher-level application of Wi-Fi Direct. Other services include a SEND service that transmits data to a partner device, and a PRINT service that transmits image data and prints it.

  The above-mentioned “service information” is a message including service identification information and message type information. “Service identification information” is information for uniquely identifying a service, and is represented by a character string such as “wfds.play”. It may be expressed in a format other than a character string such as a numerical value. The “message type information” is information indicating whether the service information is intended for service advertisement or search (request), or both. That is, the message type information includes at least one of advertisement information indicating that the service can be executed for another communication device and request information indicating that the use of the service provided by the other communication device is requested. . In the present embodiment, an example will be described in which “Advertised” is described as a message type when a service advertisement is intended, and “Requested” is described when a service request is intended. It may be information indicating the role of the own device such as “Advertiser (device that advertises a service)” or “Seeker (device that searches for a service)”. In this example, since the digital camera 101 searches for a service input by an instruction from the user, in S602, the service information with the message type information “Requested” is written in the internal memory of the NFC tag unit 208. Further, the service information is associated with information indicating a request for a new connection using a communication method different from NFC.

  In response to the user bringing the digital camera 101 and the tablet PC 102 close to each other, the digital camera 101 detects that the NFC communication 103 with the tablet PC 102 including the reader / writer (R / W) has been established (S603). . When the digital camera 101 starts NFC communication with a communication partner apparatus in a state where a service requesting execution is selected, the digital camera 101 performs NFC communication for requesting a new connection via the wireless LAN and execution of the service. With the communication partner device. Thereafter, the wireless LAN communication 104 waits for reception of a service availability message from the tablet PC 102 (S605). The service availability message is a message for notifying whether or not the partner device (that is, the tablet PC 102) of the NFC communication 103 can provide the service corresponding to the service information written in the NFC tag unit 208. The service availability message can be exchanged before the connection process of the wireless LAN communication 104, and is exchanged using, for example, a packet such as Probe Request / Probe Response.

  The digital camera 101 is configured to receive the service availability message by the wireless LAN communication unit 209, but is not limited thereto. For example, the service availability message may be acquired by writing the service availability message from the tablet PC 102 by the NFC tag unit 208. In this case, when information is written from the tablet PC 102, the NFC tag unit 208 notifies the control unit 205 of an interrupt signal indicating that the information has been written. Then, the control unit 205 refers to the internal memory of the NFC tag unit 208 and analyzes the written information.

  In the present embodiment, the interface of the wireless LAN communication unit 209 is described as being activated in advance. However, the interface of the wireless LAN communication unit 209 may be activated when the NFC communication 103 is established. In addition, the service information stored in the internal memory of the NFC tag unit 208 includes the channel information of the wireless LAN communication 104, and the reception waiting process of the service availability message is performed only for the channel specified by the channel information. Also good. The service information stored in the internal memory of the NFC tag unit 208 includes identification information for identifying the partner device of the NFC communication 103, and only the service availability message including the identification information for identifying the partner device is included. You may make it wait. A hash value may be used as identification information for identifying the counterpart device. Further, a message requesting a service availability message may be broadcast to surrounding devices, and the service availability message may be received as a response. At this time, the request message may be transmitted using the channel information channel included in the service information. Further, a request message including identification information (device identification information) of the partner device of the NFC communication 103 may be transmitted. In this case, a service from the device specified by the device identification information is requested. The transmission of the request message may be started when the user operation in S601 is accepted or when the NFC communication 103 in S603 is established.

  When the service availability message is received from the tablet PC 102 (YES in S605), the digital camera 101 analyzes the message and determines whether the service described in the service information by the tablet PC 102 is executable (S606). If the service can be executed (YES in S606), connection processing for the wireless LAN communication 104 is started (S607). Then, the digital camera 101 executes a service through the wireless LAN communication 104 with the tablet PC 102 (S608), and ends the process (S609). As an example of the execution of the service of S608, the digital camera 101 transmits the moving image data selected using the wireless LAN communication 104 to the tablet PC 102, thereby causing the tablet PC 102 to stream the moving image data. As an example of the execution of the service of S608, the digital camera 101 transmits the selected image data using the wireless LAN communication 104 to the tablet PC 102, thereby causing the tablet PC 102 to display the image data. Further, when the communication partner apparatus is a printer, the digital camera 101 transmits the image data selected using the wireless LAN communication 104 to the printer, thereby causing the printer to print the image data.

  As an example of the connection process in S607, when the digital camera 101 operates as an AP, the internal memory communication parameters of the NFC tag unit 208 are stored. And it waits for the connection by the wireless LAN from the communication partner apparatus which read this communication parameter. When the digital camera 101 operates as an STA, the communication parameter written in the NFC tag unit 208 is acquired from the communication partner apparatus. Then, the wireless LAN communication unit 209 searches for a communication partner device by wireless LAN communication based on the acquired communication parameter, and further establishes wireless LAN communication with the communication partner device by performing authentication based on the acquired communication parameter. .

  The connection process includes a process defined by Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi Protected Setup, Wi-Fi Protected Access, or the like. Further, the connection process can execute a handover process from NFC communication to wireless ALN communication based on the Wi-Fi Direct standard. In S609, the display unit 201 may display that the service has been used.

  On the other hand, if the service availability message has not been received (NO in S605), the process ends (S610). As a method for determining that the service availability message has not been received, a timer may be started upon establishment of the NFC communication 103 in S603, and the determination may be made according to whether the message has been received within a certain time. That is, the elapsed time after detecting that the service information has been read by NFC communication is counted, and if the service availability message is not received even if this elapsed time exceeds a predetermined time, in S605 It can be determined as NO. Further, as another method of the determination in S605, the determination may be made according to whether or not a processing interruption instruction is received from the user by the operation unit 202. Furthermore, you may determine combining these methods. Note that the contents of the internal memory of the NFC tag unit 208 may be deleted or updated depending on which of these determination criteria is used for determination. For example, the processing may be performed such that the contents of the memory are not deleted when the service availability message has not been received within a certain period of time, and the contents of the memory are deleted when a processing interruption is instructed by a user operation. Furthermore, the contents of the internal memory of the NFC tag unit 208 may be deleted or updated regardless of the above-described determination criteria. In S610, a message indicating that communication with the tablet PC 102 has failed may be displayed on the display unit 201.

  On the other hand, if the service cannot be executed (NO in S606), the process ends (S611). In S611, the display unit 201 may display that the service is not available.

  Note that the digital camera 101 does not write service information in which the message type information is “Requested” in the internal memory of the NFC tag unit 208 in a state where the service to be executed is not confirmed. That is, the digital camera 101 does not request execution of a service when NFC communication is started with a communication partner apparatus in a state where a service requesting execution is not selected.

  The digital camera 101 stores service information of “Advertised” as the message type in the internal memory of the NFC tag unit 208 in a state where the service to be executed is not confirmed, and the communication partner device can execute the own device. The service information may be notified. Further, the digital camera 101 may store communication parameters in the internal memory of the NFC tag unit 208 in a state where a service requesting execution is not fixed.

  With this configuration, in a state where a service to be executed is not confirmed, the digital camera 101 performs only service information notification and handover processing of its own device without requesting execution of the service by NFC communication. It can be carried out.

  As described above, the digital camera 101 receives a service availability message for the service related to the service information from the communication apparatus that has read the service information from the NFC tag unit 208. Then, based on this message, it is automatically determined whether or not to start using the wireless LAN service with this communication device. Therefore, the user can execute a service using the digital camera 101 without performing complicated settings.

  In addition, since the digital camera 101 writes the service to be executed in the NFC tag unit 208 in a state where the service to be executed is confirmed, the digital camera 101 requests the other apparatus to execute the service even when operating in the card emulation mode. Can do. In addition, since it is possible to acquire whether or not the partner apparatus can execute the service that requests execution immediately after NFC communication, execution of unnecessary handover processing is reduced.

(Operation procedure of tablet PC)
FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of the tablet PC 102. First, the tablet PC 102 starts transmitting a polling command for detecting the NFC tag by the NFC communication unit 308 (S701). When the NFC tag unit 208 of the digital camera 101 is detected, the data stored in the internal memory of the NFC tag unit 208 is read (S702). Service information is acquired from the read data (S703), and it is confirmed whether or not the message type is “Requested” (S704). If the message type is “Requested” (YES in S704), it is determined whether the tablet PC 102 can execute the service indicated by the service identification information (S705). If this service can be executed (YES in S705), a service availability message indicating that this service can be executed is transmitted to the digital camera 101 via the wireless LAN communication 104 (S706).

  Note that the tablet PC 102 is configured to transmit a service availability message by the wireless LAN communication unit 309, and the service availability message is written to the digital camera 101 by writing the service availability message to the NFC tag unit 208 of the digital camera 101 by the NFC communication unit 308. It is good also as a structure to notify.

  In the present embodiment, the interface of the wireless LAN communication unit 309 is described as being activated in advance, but the interface of the wireless LAN communication unit 309 may be activated when the NFC communication 103 is established. When the channel information of the wireless LAN communication 104 is included in the internal memory of the NFC tag unit 208, the service availability message may be transmitted using the channel. If the device identification information is included in the internal memory of the NFC tag unit 208, a service availability message including the device identification information may be transmitted. In this case, the digital camera 101 can determine whether to start using the wireless LAN service with the tablet PC 102 based on the service availability message including the device identification information.

  A message requesting a service availability message may be received from the digital camera 101, and the service availability message may be transmitted as a response. The exchange of the request message and the response message may be performed using a channel indicated by the channel information. Alternatively, only a request message including device identification information may be responded. A service availability message may be written in the internal memory of the NFC tag unit 208 using the NFC communication 103. Further, the service availability message may be notified by being included in the message exchanged in the connection process of S707.

  Next, the tablet PC 102 starts connection processing of the wireless LAN communication 104 with the digital camera 101 (S707), executes the requested service with the digital camera 101 (S708), and ends the processing (S709). ). Note that in S707, information and messages that have already been transmitted and received by the NFC communication 103 among the information exchanged by the connection processing of the wireless LAN communication 104 may be omitted.

  An example of the connection process in S707 is that the tablet PC 102 is a digital camera that operates as an AP based on the communication parameter as an STA when the communication parameter is stored in the internal memory of the NFC tag unit 208 of the digital camera 101. 101 is searched by wireless LAN communication. The tablet PC 102 establishes wireless LAN communication with the communication partner device by performing authentication based on the acquired communication parameter. When the tablet PC 102 operates as an AP, the internal memory communication parameter of the NFC tag unit 208 is written. Then, a network based on the communication parameters is constructed, and a wireless LAN connection from the communication partner apparatus is awaited. The connection process includes a process defined by Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi Protected Setup, Wi-Fi Protected Access, or the like. Further, the connection process can execute a handover process from NFC communication to wireless ALN communication based on the Wi-Fi Direct standard.

  In step S708, the tablet PC 102 receives the moving image data selected by the digital camera 101 using the wireless LAN communication 104 from the digital camera 101, and streams the moving image data. As an example of the execution of the service in S708, the tablet PC 102 receives image data selected by the digital camera 101 using the wireless LAN communication 104 from the digital camera 101, and displays the image data.

  On the other hand, when the message type read from the NFC tag unit 208 of the digital camera 101 is not “Request” (NO in S704), the process ends (S710). In S710, a message indicating that communication with the digital camera 101 has failed may be displayed on the display unit 301. When the message type is not “Request”, the tablet PC 102 may be configured to execute a connection process (handover process) for establishing the wireless LAN communication 104. When the message type is “Advertised”, the tablet PC 102 may select a service to be executed with the digital camera 101, and the selected service may be executed in the wireless LAN communication 104.

  Further, when the tablet PC 102 starts NFC communication with the digital camera 101 in a state where the service to be executed is confirmed, and the message type read from the NFC tag unit 208 is not “Request”, the tablet PC 102 requests The service to be executed may be executed.

  Further, when the tablet PC 102 starts NFC communication with the digital camera 101 in a state where the service to be requested is confirmed, and the message type read from the NFC tag unit 208 is “Request”, either request The service to be performed may be performed preferentially or may end in error.

  If the service requested from the digital camera 101 is not executable (NO in S705), a service availability message indicating that this service cannot be executed is transmitted to the digital camera 101 (S711), and the process is terminated (S711). S712). In S712, a message indicating that the service could not be executed may be displayed on the display unit 301 of the tablet PC 102.

  As described above, when receiving the service information from the NFC tag unit 208, the tablet PC 102 determines whether or not the corresponding service can be executed, and transmits a service availability message based on the result via the wireless LAN. For this reason, a service search can be performed without requiring complicated manual settings.

(Communication sequence)
Next, an example of a communication sequence between the digital camera 101 and the tablet PC 102 will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 8, the digital camera 101 first receives an instruction to execute a Wi-Fi Direct Play service by a user operation (S801). At this time, the digital camera 101 writes the service identification information “wfds.play” indicating the Wi-Fi Direct Play service and the service information having the message type “Requested” in the internal memory of the NFC tag unit 208.

  Next, when NFC communication 103 is established between the digital camera 101 and the tablet PC 102 in response to a user operation to bring the digital camera 101 close to the tablet PC 102 (S802), the tablet PC 102 reads service information from the NFC tag unit 208 of the digital camera 101 (S803). ). Based on the read service information, the tablet PC 102 determines whether or not the self apparatus can execute the Wi-Fi Direct Play service. Then, a service provision availability message indicating whether or not to provide this service is notified to the digital camera 101 via the wireless LAN communication 104 (S804). Here, description will be made assuming that the tablet PC 102 can execute the Play service (OK). When the digital camera 101 recognizes that the service is available by receiving the service provision availability message, it starts connection processing of the wireless LAN communication 104 with the tablet PC 102 (S805). When the connection of the wireless LAN communication 104 is established, the digital camera 101 transmits a Play service start request to the tablet PC 102 and executes the service (S806). The service is executed by transmitting the moving image data selected by the digital camera 101, and the tablet PC 102 performs streaming reproduction of the moving image data.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, a communication partner terminal that can execute a service only by bringing the terminals closer together by requesting the provision of the service using the NFC tag and confirming whether the service can be used. Because it is possible to identify and execute the service, the operability is improved. Further, even when the service cannot be executed, the fact can be confirmed by the service provision availability message, so that an error can be immediately displayed to the user, thereby improving convenience. Further, by starting the wireless LAN interface in response to establishment of NFC communication, power consumption required for starting the interface can be suppressed. In addition, by notifying channel information with an NFC tag and sending / receiving a service provision availability message using the channel, it is not necessary to transmit / receive to / from all channels of wireless LAN communication, and the time required for this can be reduced. Improves. In addition, by notifying the NFC tag including the identification information of the partner device, wireless LAN communication can be performed with the partner device that has performed NFC communication reliably, and unauthorized connection from a third party can be suppressed, thus improving security. Further, in the connection process of wireless LAN communication, by omitting the duplicated information / message exchanged by NFC communication, the wireless LAN connection process is speeded up, so that convenience is improved.

  In the above embodiment, the tablet PC 102 reads the service information from the NFC tag unit 208 in response to the proximity to the digital camera 101, but the trigger for reading the service information is not limited to this. For example, when the digital camera 101 and the tablet PC 102 are at a distance that allows NFC communication with each other, a predetermined switch provided on at least one of the digital camera 101 and the tablet PC 102 may be selected as a trigger. . Further, in the above-described embodiment, the service provision is determined according to the tablet PC 102 reading the service information from the NFC tag unit 208. However, the trigger for determining the service provision is not limited to this. For example, it may be triggered by a request from the digital camera 101 to determine whether a service can be provided to the tablet PC 102.

  As described above, according to the embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to specify a communication partner terminal that can execute a desired service only by a simple operation such as bringing the terminals closer to each other and execute the service.

(Other embodiments)
The present invention supplies a program that realizes one or more functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or apparatus via a network or a storage medium, and one or more processors in a computer of the system or apparatus read and execute the program This process can be realized. It can also be realized by a circuit (for example, ASIC) that realizes one or more functions.

100 communication system, 101 digital camera, 102 tablet PC, 103 NFC communication, 104 wireless LAN communication

Claims (14)

Storage means for storing service information corresponding to the service so that it can be read from the other wireless communication device by the first wireless communication method when a service to be executed by the second wireless communication method is selected;
A message indicating that a service corresponding to the service information stored in the storage means is executable, and receiving means for receiving the message transmitted by the second wireless communication method ;
Detecting means for detecting that communication by the first wireless communication method is performed;
If the message is received by the receiving unit until a predetermined time has elapsed after the detection unit detects that the communication by the first wireless communication method has been performed, it is a transmission source of the message The message is received even if a predetermined time elapses after it is detected that the communication by the first wireless communication method is performed by the detecting means by connecting to another communication device by the second wireless communication method. A connection means that does not connect to the other communication device by the second wireless communication method if not,
A communication apparatus comprising:   2. The wireless communication method according to claim 1, wherein the first wireless communication method is a wireless communication method that enables communication when the other communication device approaches the communication device within a predetermined distance. Communication device.   The service information is at least one of advertisement information indicating that the service can be performed on the other communication device and request information indicating that the service provided by the other communication device is requested. The communication device according to claim 1, comprising:   The communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the service information includes service identification information for identifying the service. The service information includes channel information for specifying a channel used in communication with the other communication device according to the second wireless communication method,
The reception means, communication device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that receiving the message using the channel specified by the channel information. The service information includes device identification information for identifying the other communication device,
The connection means determines whether or not to establish a connection with the other communication device by the second wireless communication method based on the message including the device identification information. The communication device according to any one of 1 to 5 . A writing unit for writing the service information in the storage unit;
The said receiving means receives the said message which concerns on the said service information from the other communication apparatus which read the service information written by the said writing means, The any one of Claim 1 to 6 characterized by the above-mentioned. The communication device described. It further comprises instruction input means for inputting an instruction from the user,
8. The communication apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the writing unit writes service information corresponding to the input instruction to the storage unit. Triggered by the detection means detects that the communication by the first wireless communication method has been performed, from claim 1, further comprising a broadcasting means for broadcasting information that requests the message 8 The communication device according to any one of the above. And further has time measuring means for measuring an elapsed time since the detection means has detected that communication by the first wireless communication method has been performed,
Said connection means, a communication device according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that connected to the other communication apparatus by the second wireless communication system based on time measurement result by said timer means. If the receiving means does not receive the message even after the predetermined time has elapsed since it was detected that the communication by the first wireless communication method was performed by the detecting means, a message to that effect is displayed on the display means. communication apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 10, further comprising a display control unit. The first wireless communication method is a NFC or Bluetooth, according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein the second wireless communication method is a wireless LAN complying with IEEE802.11 standard Communication equipment. A storage step of storing service information corresponding to the service so as to be readable by the first wireless communication method from another communication device when a service executed by the second wireless communication method is selected;
A message indicating that the service corresponding to the service information stored in the storing step is executable, and receiving the message transmitted by the second wireless communication method ;
A detection step of detecting that communication by the first wireless communication method is performed;
If the message is received in the reception step until a predetermined time elapses after it is detected that the communication by the first wireless communication method is performed in the detection step, it is a transmission source of the message The message is received even if a predetermined time elapses after it is detected that the communication by the first wireless communication method is performed in the detection step by connecting with another communication device by the second wireless communication method. A connection step that does not connect to the other communication device by the second wireless communication method if not,
A method for controlling a communication apparatus, comprising: The computer program for functioning a computer as each means with which the communication apparatus of any one of Claim 1 to 12 is provided.

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